Automatic door opening/closing apparatus

ABSTRACT

In the event that while an outdoor surveillance sensor ( 10 B) detects an object, an indoor surveillance sensor ( 10 A) detects the object within a near detection area ( 11   a ) near to the door ( 1 ), it is determined that an intruder is trying to conduct an unauthorized entry into the building by inserting a sensor tripping item from an outdoor area into an indoor area through a gap in the door ( 1 ) and, hence, the door ( 1 ) is kept closed, to thereby increase the reliability of preventing the intruder from conducting the unauthorized entry. Also, when the outdoor surveillance sensor ( 10 B) detects an object and the indoor surveillance sensor ( 10 A) detects a different object within a distant detection area ( 11   b ) distant from the door ( 1 ), it is determined that a resident approaches the door ( 1 ), with the door ( 1 ) consequently opened and, accordingly, the resident can smoothly move from the indoor area to the outdoor area. In such case, since the indoor surveillance sensor ( 10 A) detects no object within the near detection area ( 11   a ), it can be determined that a person in the outdoor area is not an intruder attempting to conduct an unauthorized entry into the building.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to an automatic door controlapparatus and, more particularly, to the automatic door controlapparatus capable of providing a secure prevention of an unauthorizedentry into a building.

BACKGROUND ART

It is known that the conventional automatic door control apparatus hasindoor and outdoor surveillance sensors installed at an entrance to abuilding such as a high-rise apartment house for monitoring the presenceor absence of a human body in indoor and outdoor areas with respect toan automatic door, respectively, and also has a security input deviceinstalled outdoors. During the daytime, free entry from the outdoor areainto the indoor area, and vice versa, is permitted by opening andclosing an automatic door in response to detection of a human body bythe indoor and outdoor surveillance sensors. However, during thenighttime, although leaving the indoor area into the outdoor area can bepermitted by opening the automatic door in response to detection of ahuman body by the indoor surveillance sensor, the entry from the outdoorarea into the indoor area is restricted for the purpose of prevention ofthe unauthorized intrusion into the building, requiring a particularperson such as a resident in that building to insert a magnetic card orinput an ID code into the security input device and then to open theautomatic door to enter the indoor area.

However, it has been found that with the conventional apparatus, anintruder can open the automatic door by inserting a sensor tripping itemor detection object from the outdoor area into the indoor area through agap in the door to cause the indoor surveillance sensor to detect suchsensor tripping item and, accordingly, the intrusion cannot be preventedsatisfactorily.

In order to alleviate the problem discussed above, various attempts havehitherto been practiced, for example, (1) to close the gap in the doorwith an acrylic plate or the like to thereby physically prevent thesensor tripping item from being inserted and (2) to keep the automaticdoor closed even when the indoor surveillance sensor is detecting aperson who is about to leave the building as long as the outdoorsurveillance sensor is detecting an object or a person in the outdoorarea. However, even those attempts have been found problematic, in thatthe attempt (1) requires a time-consuming job of mounting the plate tothe door and the attempt (2) causes inconveniences to the person in theindoor area by keeping the automatic door closed, if persons and/orobjects are present in the vicinity of the outdoor surveillance sensor,with the person in the indoor area consequently unable to go outdoors.

The Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 11-311060, for example,discloses another attempt (3) in which in the event that an indoorsurveillance sensor detects a sensor tripping item, which has beeninserted from an outdoor area into an indoor area through a gap in adoor moving deep into the indoor area, the automatic door will not beopened, but the automatic door can be opened only when an objectapproaches the automatic door from the indoor area. However, since thisattempt (3) relies on the detection made solely by the indoorsurveillance sensor for the prevention of the unauthorized entry, anerroneous operation tends to occur often, failing to achieve thereliability.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing, the present invention has been for its objectto provide an automatic door control apparatus effective to eliminatethe above discussed problems and inconveniences and to increase thereliability of preventing the unauthorized entry into a building.

In order to accomplish the foregoing object, an automatic door controlapparatus according to the present invention includes indoor and outdoorsurveillance sensors disposed in indoor and outdoor areas with respectto a door for detecting sensing waves emitted from an object, and anopen/close control unit operable, in response to detection made by theindoor and outdoor surveillance sensors, to control selective openingand closure of the door. The indoor surveillance sensor includes a neardetection area near to the door and a distant detection area distantfrom the door. The open/closure control unit includes a closuremaintaining device for maintaining the door in a closed position whenthe indoor surveillance sensor detects an object within the neardetection area while the outdoor surveillance sensor is detecting suchobject during the closure of the door, and an opening activating devicefor opening the door when the indoor surveillance sensor detects anobject within the distant detection area even while the outdoorsurveillance sensor is detecting a different object during the closureof the door.

According to the present invention, in the event that while the outdoorsurveillance sensor detects an object, the indoor surveillance sensordetects such object within the near detection area, it is determinedthat an intruder is trying to conduct an unauthorized entry into thebuilding by inserting a sensor tripping item from the outdoor area intothe indoor area through a gap in the door and, hence, the door is keptclosed, to thereby increase the reliability of preventing the intruderfrom conducting the unauthorized entry. Also, when the outdoorsurveillance sensor detects an object and at the same time the indoorsurveillance sensor detects a different object within the distantdetection area in the indoor area, it is determined that a resident inthe indoor area approaches the door, with the door consequently openedand, accordingly, the resident can smoothly move from the indoor area tothe outdoor area. In such case, since the indoor surveillance sensordetects no object within the near detection area, it is determined thata person in the outdoor area is not an intruder attempting to conduct anunauthorized entry into the building.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the outdoorsurveillance sensor may have a near detection area near to the door anda distant detection area distant from the door. The closure maintainingdevice is operable to keep the door in the closed position when theoutdoor surveillance sensor is detecting an object within the distantdetection area thereof. Accordingly, the outdoor surveillance sensor candetect an intruder who is trying to conduct the unauthorized entry intothe building by inserting the sensor tripping item from the outdoor areainto the indoor area through the gap in the door, ensuring the highreliability of preventing the unauthorized entry.

In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, each of theindoor and outdoor surveillance sensors may be of a reflection type andthe sensing waves may be those reflected from an object.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In any event, the present invention will become more clearly understoodfrom the following description of preferred embodiments thereof, whentaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, theembodiments and the drawings are given only for the purpose ofillustration and explanation, and are not to be taken as limiting thescope of the present invention in any way whatsoever, which scope is tobe determined by the appended claims. In the accompanying drawings, likereference numerals are used to denote like parts throughout the severalviews, and:

FIG. 1(A) is a block diagram showing an automatic door control apparatusaccording to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 1(B) is a partial side view as viewed in a direction of slidingmovement of a door of the automatic door control apparatus;

FIG. 2(A) is a side view of an area surveillance sensor assembly asviewed in the direction of sliding movement of the door of the automaticdoor control apparatus;

FIG. 2(B) is a bottom plan view of the area surveillance sensor assemblyshown in FIG. 2(A);

FIG. 2(C) is a front elevational view of the area surveillance sensorassembly shown in FIG. 2(A), as viewed in a direction of movement of aperson;

FIG. 3 is a side view of detection areas covered by the areasurveillance sensor assembly, shown together with a plan view of suchdetection areas; and

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the sequence of operation of the automaticdoor control apparatus shown in FIGS. 1(A) and (B).

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail inconnection with a preferred embodiment thereof with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

FIG. 1(A) illustrates a schematic block diagram showing an automaticdoor control apparatus according to the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention. The automatic door control apparatus is of a typecapable of selectively opening and closing a door, for example, asliding door 1 and includes an open/close control unit 18 forcontrolling a door engine 2 such as an 1 5 electrically operated drivemotor which drives the sliding door 1 to selectively open and close suchsliding door 1. The open/close control unit 18 includes a door enginecontroller 6, an area surveillance sensor assembly 10 made up of anindoor surveillance sensor 10A, installed in an indoor area with respectto the sliding door 1 for detecting sensing waves emanating from anobject, and an outdoor surveillance sensor 10B installed in an outdoorarea with respect to the sliding door 1 for detecting sensing wavesemanating from an object, and a signal processing circuit 17.

The signal processing circuit 17 includes a closure maintaining device15 and an opening activating device 16 and feeds either one of a DoorOpen 25 signal (an ON signal) and a Door Close signal (an OFF signal) tothe door engine controller 6. The door engine 2 and the open/closecontrol unit 18 are mounted within a hollow of a transom 8 forsupporting an upper end portion of the door 1 or within the door 1. Thedoor 1 has an open/close detecting sensor 19 such as a microswitchmounted on the upper portion of the door 1 for detecting the opening orclosure of the door 1. The area surveillance sensor assembly 10 is inthe form of, for example, an AIR system capable of projecting nearinfrared rays of light as the sensing waves and then receiving a portionof the near infrared rays of light reflected from an object to therebydetect the presence of such object.

The indoor surveillance sensor 10A and the outdoor surveillance sensor10B are secured to outer side faces of the transom 8 so as to define andcover an indoor detection area 11 and an outdoor detection area 12inside and outside a building with respect to the door 1, respectively.Each of the detection areas 11 and 12 is made up of a near detectionarea 11 a or 12 a near to the door 1 and extending generally verticallybetween the corresponding surveillance sensor 10A or 10B and thebuilding floor as shown by the solid line in FIG. 1(B), and a pluralityof generally juxtaposed distant detection areas 11 b or 12 b definedoutside the near detection area 11 a or 12 b, that is, on one side ofthe near detection area 11 a or 12 b remote from the door 1 andextending diagonally between the corresponding surveillance sensor 10Aor 10B and the building floor as shown by the broken lines in FIG. 1(B).In the embodiment as shown, one near detection area 11 a or 12 b andthree distant detection areas 11 b or 12 b are defined on each side ofthe door 1, and each detection area 11 or 12 is so designed as to covera region extending over the entire height of the door 1.

The indoor surveillance sensor 10A and the outdoor surveillance sensor10B are of a substantially identical structure and, therefore, referencewill be made to only the indoor surveillance sensor 10A in describingthe details thereof for the sake of brevity. Referring to FIG. 2(A)showing a schematic side view of the indoor surveillance sensor 10A, theindoor surveillance sensor 10A is of the AIR system and includes, asarranged in the specific order when viewed in a direction Y of slidingmovement of the door 1, a pair of first light projecting elements 31 fordefining and covering the near detection area 11 a and a pair of firstlight receiving elements 41 cooperable with the first light projectingelements 31; a plurality of, for example, three, pairs of second tofourth light projecting elements 32, 33 and 34 for defining and coveringthe second to fourth distant detection areas 11 b and three pairs ofsecond to fourth light receiving elements 42, 43 and 44 cooperablerespectively with the second to fourth light projecting elements 32 to34; a common light projecting lens 51 for projecting sensing waves in apredetermined pattern emitted from the light projecting elements 31 to34, and a common light receiving lens 61 for forming the respectivedetection areas for the light receiving elements 41 to 44.

As shown in FIG. 2(B) in a bottom plan view, the pairs of the lightprojecting elements 31 to 34 are arrayed in two rows while the pairs ofthe light projecting elements 31 to 34 are juxtaposed relative to eachother in a direction perpendicular to a direction X of movement of ahuman body, and similarly, the pairs of the light receiving elements 41to 44 are arrayed in two rows while the pairs of the light receivingelements 41 to 44 are juxtaposed relative to each other in a directionperpendicular to the direction X of movement of a human body. On theother hand, as shown in FIG. 2(C) in a front elevational view, each ofthe light projecting lens 51 and the light receiving lens 61 is dividedinto four lens segments in a direction circumferentially thereof and,accordingly, each pair of the light receiving elements and thecorresponding pair of the light projecting elements define eightdetection sub-areas together.

Thus, as shown in a plan view in a lower portion of FIG. 3, thedetection areas 11 and 12 covered by the indoor and outdoor surveillancesensors 10A and 10B, respectively, each include eight sub-areas that aredeployed in the direction Y and four sub-areas that are deployed in thedirection X, representing a matrix of four columns and eight rows. InFIG. 3, legends “A” and “B” represent respective detection sub-areas ofcoverage formed on the floor by the light projecting elements 31 and 31;legends “C” and “D” represent respective detection sub-areas of coverageformed on the floor by the light projecting elements 32 and 32; legends“E” and “F” represent respective detection sub-areas of coverage formedon the floor by the light projecting elements 33 and 33; and legends “G”and “H” represent respective detection sub-areas of coverage formed onthe floor by the light projecting elements 34 and 34.

It is to be noted that although, in the illustrated embodiment, the neardetection areas 11 a and 12 a covered respectively by the indoorsurveillance sensor 10A and the outdoor surveillance sensor 10B areassigned as the first column, and the distant detection areas 11 b and12 b covered respectively by the indoor surveillance sensor 10A and theoutdoor surveillance sensor 10B are assigned as the second to fourthcolumns, the near detection areas 11 a and 12 a and the distantdetection areas 11 b and 12 b may be assigned as the first and secondcolumns and the third and fourth columns, respectively, or the first tothird columns and the fourth column, respectively. Also, the neardetection areas 12 a for the outdoor surveillance sensor 10B may be madeup of the first to fourth columns, with no distant detection areas 12 bemployed at all.

The closure maintaining device 15 shown in FIG. 1(A) is operable tocontinue outputting the Door Close signal (the OFF signal) to the doorengine controller 6 in response to receipt of a detection signal α,which is, during the closure of the door detected by the open/closedetecting sensor 19, outputted from the outdoor surveillance sensor 10Bwhen the outdoor surveillance sensor 10B detects the presence of anobject within the near detection area 12 a, and also in response toreceipt of a detection signal β from the indoor surveillance sensor 10Awhen the indoor surveillance sensor 10A detects the presence of suchobject within the near detection area 11 a. In response to the DoorClose signal (the OFF signal) fed from the closure maintaining device15, the door engine controller 6 causes the door engine 2 to maintainthe door 1 in a closed position. Where no distant detection area 12 bfor the outdoor surveillance sensor 10B is employed, a detection signalgenerated when an object present somewhere in the entirety of thedetection area 12 is detected can be used as the detection signal α. Inthe event that the Door Close signal (the OFF signal) is not generated,the Door Open signal (the ON signal) is issued to keep the door 1 open.

The opening activating device 16 is operable to output the Door Opensignal (the ON signal) to the door engine controller 6 in response toreceipt of the detection signal α, which is, during the closure of thedoor detected by the open/close detecting sensor 19, outputted from theoutdoor surveillance sensor 10B when the outdoor surveillance sensor 10Bdetects the presence of an object within the near detection area 12 a,and also in response to receipt of a detection signal γ from the indoorsurveillance sensor 10A when the indoor surveillance sensor 10A detectsthe presence of an object, for example, a resident about to leave thebuilding, within the distant detection area 11 b. In response to theDoor Open signal (the ON signal) fed from the opening activating device16, the door engine controller 6 causes the door engine 2 to open thedoor 1. Where the Door Close sign (the OFF signal) is generated duringthe opening of the door 1, the operation to close the door 1 isperformed.

Hereinafter, the operation of the automatic door control apparatus ofthe present invention will be described in details with reference to theflowchart shown in FIG. 4.

At the outset, in reference to the detection signal fed from theopen/close detecting sensor 19, a decision is made at step S1 todetermine whether the door 1 is in an opened condition or not. If thedoor 1 is found to be closed, a decision is made at step S2 to determineif an object is detected within the first column of the distantdetection area 12 a covered by the outdoor surveillance sensor 10B. Inthe event that the object is detected within the first column of thedistant detection area 12 a, another decision is made at step S3 todetermine if the object is detected also within the first row of thenear detection area 11 a of the indoor surveillance sensor 10A. If theobject is detected within the near detection area 11 a, the closuremaintaining device 15 causes the door 1 to be kept closed at step S4.

Thus, when the object is detected within the near detection area 12 a ofthe outdoor surveillance sensor 10B and is also detected within the neardetection area 11 a of the indoor surveillance sensor 10A, it isdetermined that an intruder is trying to insert a sensor tripping iteminto the indoor area through a gap in the door in an attempt to conductan unauthorized entry into the indoor area and, hence, the door 1 iskept closed, thereby to increase the reliability of preventing theintruder from conducting an unauthorized entry. It is to be noted that,where a magnetic card or an ID code is inserted into or inputted to asecurity input device, such input signal is preferentially dealt with toopen the door 1.

In the event that at step S2 the object is not detected within the neardetection area 12 a of the outdoor surveillance sensor 10B, or in theevent that at step S3 the object is detected within the near detectionarea 12 a of the outdoor sensor 10B, but not detected within the neardetection area 11 a of the indoor surveillance sensor 10A, a decision ismade at step S5 to determine if an object is detected within the secondto fourth columns of the distant detection areas 11 b of the indoorsurveillance sensor 10A. Where the object is detected within the distantdetection area 11 b of the indoor surveillance sensor 10A, the openingactivating device 16 causes the door 1 to open at step S6. On the otherhand, where the object is not detected within the near detection area 12a of the outdoor surveillance sensor 10B, it is determined that nointruder is found in the vicinity of the outdoor area and, hence, thatthere is no attempt to conduct an unauthorized entry.

Also, where an object is detected within the near detection area 12 a ofthe outdoor surveillance sensor 10B, but not detected within the neardetection area 11 a of the indoor surveillance sensor 10A, it isdetermined that the object or person in the vicinity of the outdoor areais not attempting an unauthorized entry. At the same time, detection ofan object within the distant detection area 11 b of the indoorsurveillance sensor 10A can be determined indicating that the residentwithin the indoor area approaches the door 1 to go outside. Accordingly,since the opening activating device 16 operates to open the door 1, theresident can smoothly go out of the building even though persons and/orobjects are found in the vicinity of the outdoor area of the building.In the event that no object is detected within the distant detectionarea 11 b of the indoor surveillance sensor 10A at step S5, it isdetermined that there is no resident moving from the indoor area to theoutdoor area and, therefore, the door is kept in the closed position atstep S4.

Also, in the event that at step S1 the door 1 is determined as opened,the normal detecting process is performed at step S7, followed by stepS8 to determine if the area surveillance sensor assembly 10 is detectinga person entering or leaving the building. In the event that the areasurveillance sensor assembly 10 is detecting such person, the door 1 iskept opened at step S6. On the other hand, if the area surveillancesensor assembly 10 is detecting no such person, the door 1 is closed atstep S4.

It is to be noted that, in the foregoing embodiment of the presentinvention, in place of the determination at step S3 of whether or not anobject is detected within the first column of the near detection area 11a of the indoor surveillance sensor 10A, determination may be made thatan object is detected within the near detection area 11 a in the eventthat, with the first and second columns of the indoor detection area 11taken as the near detection areas 11 a of the indoor sensor 10A, theobject is detected sequentially from the first column to the secondcolumn (in the event that the object is inserted into the indoor areathrough the gap in the door 1), or the object is detected sequentiallyfrom the second column to the first column (in the event that the objectonce inserted is drawn from the indoor area to the outdoor area).

It is also to be noted that, in the foregoing embodiment of the presentinvention, in place of the determination at step S5 of whether or not anobject is detected within the second to fourth columns of the distantdetection areas 11 b of the indoor surveillance sensor 10A,determination may be made that an object is detected within the distantdetection areas 11 b in the event that the object is detectedsequentially from the fourth column to the third column and then to thesecond column. Furthermore, with the third and fourth columns taken asthe distant detection areas 11 b of the indoor surveillance sensor 10A,determination may be made that an object is detected within the distantdetection areas 11 b when the object is detected sequentially from thefourth column to the third column.

In describing the foregoing embodiment, the open/close detecting sensor19 is employed for detecting the opening or closure of the door 1.However, the use of the open/close detecting sensor 19 may not be alwaysessential in the present invention and may be dispensed with, in whichcase the detection area covered by each of the indoor and outdoorsurveillance sensors 10A and 10B has to be so extended over the door 1that the indoor and outdoor surveillance sensors 10A and 10B can detectthe selective opening and closure of the door 1, or the door engine 2itself can detect the opening and closure of the door 1 in reference toa door position signal represented by the number of revolutions of themotor.

Again, in describing the foregoing embodiment, the area surveillancesensor assembly 10 has been described as the AIR system, but it may be aPIR (passive infrared rays) system in which far infrared rays of lightemanating from an object are detected. Also, an ultrasonic-wave typeactive sensor including transmitting and receiving elements fortransmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves as sensing waves or aradio-wave type active sensor including transmitting and receivingelements for transmitting and receiving radio waves as sensing waves maybe employed in place of the AIR system.

Although the present invention has been fully described in connectionwith the preferred embodiments thereof with reference to theaccompanying drawings which are used only for the purpose ofillustration, those skilled in the art will readily conceive numerouschanges and modifications within the framework of obviousness upon thereading of the specification herein presented of the present invention.Accordingly, such changes and modifications are, unless they depart fromthe scope of the present invention as delivered from the claims annexedhereto, to be construed as included therein.

1. An automatic door control apparatus which comprises: indoor andoutdoor surveillance sensors disposed in indoor and outdoor areas withrespect to a door for detecting sensing waves emitted from an object,the indoor surveillance sensor including a near detection area near tothe door and a distant detection area distant from the door; anopen/close control unit operable, in response to detection made by theindoor and outdoor surveillance sensors, to control selective openingand closure of the door, said open/closure control unit comprising; aclosure maintaining device for maintaining the door in a closed positionwhen the indoor surveillance sensor detects an object within the neardetection area while the outdoor surveillance sensor is detecting suchobject during the closure of the door; and an opening activating devicefor opening the door when the indoor surveillance sensor detects anobject within the distant detection area even while the outdoorsurveillance sensor is detecting a different object during the closureof the door.
 2. The automatic door control apparatus as claimed in claim1, wherein the outdoor surveillance sensor has a near detection areanear to the door and a distant detection area distant from the door andwherein the closure maintaining device is operable to keep the door inthe closed position when the outdoor surveillance sensor is detecting anobject within the near detection area thereof.
 3. The automatic doorcontrol apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the indoor andoutdoor surveillance sensors is of a reflection type and wherein thesensing waves are those reflected from an object.
 4. A system forautomatically positioning a door in one of an open and closed state,comprising: a door engine unit for providing movement to a door; a firstsensor unit mounted to monitor an interior first side of the door,including a near detection area to the door and a distant detection areaaway from the door, the first sensor unit enabled to provide a neardetection signal and a distant detection signal; and a second sensorunit mounted to monitor an exterior second side of the door, the secondsensor unit enabled to provide a detection signal; a signal processingunit for receiving signals from the first sensor unit and the secondsensor unit, for processing the signals and providing correspondingsignals to the door engine unit, the signal processing unit providing apriority open signal to the door engine unit when receiving a distantdetection signal from the first sensor unit and providing a close signalwhen the first sensor unit provides a near detection signal and thesecond sensor unit provides a detection signal.
 5. The system of claim 4further including means for providing an override signal to open thedoor.
 6. The system of claim 4 wherein the exterior second sensor unitmonitors a near detection area to the door and a distant detection areaaway from the door.
 7. The system of claim 6 wherein each of thedetection areas is divided into an array of individual spaced sub-areas.8. The system of claim 6 wherein the signal processing unit provides aclose signal to the door engine unit when the exterior second sensorunit provides a near detection signal and the first sensor unit providesa near detection signal.
 9. A system for automatically positioning adoor in one of an open and closed state, comprising: a door engine unitfor providing movement to a door; a first sensor unit mounted to monitoran interior first side of the door, including a near detection area tothe door and a distant detection area away from the door, the firstsensor unit enabled to provide a near detection signal and a distantdetection signal, wherein each of the detection areas is divided into atwo-dimensional array of individual spaced sub-areas; a second sensorunit mounted to monitor an exterior second side of the door, the secondsensor unit enabled to provide a near detection signal and a distantdetection signal, wherein each of the detection areas is divided into atwo-dimensional array of individual spaced sub-areas; and a signalprocessing unit for receiving signals from the first sensor unit and thesecond sensor unit, for processing the signals and providingcorresponding signals to the door engine unit, the signal processingunit providing a priority open signal to the door engine unit whenreceiving a distant detection signal from the first sensor unit andproviding a close signal when the first sensor unit provides a neardetection signal and the second sensor unit provides a near detectionsignal.